Frame for supporting classification and filling drawers

ABSTRACT

Frame for supporting drawers having two supporting laminar structures held vertically and parallel to one another. The laminar structures have on their opposite faces a plurality of elongated parallel and horizontal stamped openings in equal number and at the same height. The openings have a length and width which correspond to the length and thickness of detachable narrow flanges which can be housed in its interior, and have a depth which is approximately equivalent to half the width of the narrow elongated flange. Each of the receptive stamped openings of the detachable narrow flanges forms, as a result of moulding or stamping on the supporting sheets of the frame, a group of three interconnecting slots organized according to three adjacent sides of a rectangle, giving rise to the formation of a rectangular flap which is subsequently overlapped, thus forming a rib having a section in the form of a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;U&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; and having its opening orientated towards the interior of the frame.

United States Patent 11 1 Escolano Serrano et a1.

[45] Oct. 16, 1973 FRAME FOR SUPPORTING CLASSIFICATION AND FILLING DRAWERS 22 Filed: Jan. 27, 1972 k 21 Appl. No.: 221,153

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 28, 1971 Spain 165623 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 793,064 6/1905 Goodrich 312/330 2,547,463 4/1951 Haut 312/350 2,587,396 2/1952 Smayda 211/134 X 3,016,148 l/l962 Riddle 211/41 3,152,698 10/1964 Maddox 211/126 3,222,117 12/1965 Schwartz 21'1/126 X Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts Att0rneyE. F. Wenderoth et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT Frame for supporting drawers having two supporting laminar structures held vertically and parallel to one another. The laminar structures have on their opposite faces a plurality of elongated parallel and horizontal stamped openings in equal number and at the same height. The openings have a length and width which correspond to the length and thickness of detachable narrow flanges which can be housed in its interior, and have a depth which is approximately equivalent to half the width of the narrow elongated flange. Each of the receptive stamped openings of the detachable narrow flanges forms, as a result of moulding or stamping on the supporting sheets of the frame, a group of three interconnecting slots organized according to three adjacent sides of a rectangle, giving rise to the formation of a rectangular flap which is subsequently overlapped, thus forming a rib having a section in the form of a U and having its opening orientated towards the interior of the frame. I

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures FRAME FOR SUPPORTING CLASSIFICATION AND FILLING DRAWERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrefers to filing cabinets for classifying and filing cards and documents, and more particularly to a frame provided with detachable supporting racks or shelves. The purpose of such racks or shelves is to vary the distances or separations existing between the supporting points of the various drawers to be housed in the frame in order to be able to vary the heights of the drawers or cabinets and to furthermore modify the placing of the drawers in the fixture, if said drawers are not all of the same size.

The conventional frames used for supporting filing drawers are in general comprised of two supporting laminar structures or sheets positioned vertically and parallelly. These sheets have a series of parallel and horizontal moulds, equal in number on either sides of the sheets, which, by means of a posterior inward folding, give rise to the formation of a series of supporting flaps on which the longitudinal edges of the bottoms of the drawers in question can be supported.

As can easily be understood, this arrangement makes the placing of the drawers or cabinets whose height may be greater than the distance between the racks or shelves impossible and should the racks or shelves have originally been designed as a support for drawers of various heights, the change of position of the drawers is impossible. I

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The purpose of the present invention is to achieve an arrangement in which the racks or shelves are detachable and are capable of being placed in such a way as to maintain various separations or distances between each other. In this way the racks or shelves can be adapted to different heights of the filing cabinets or drawers, thus not only allowing the use of a single fixture for different drawers, but also changing the position of same, depending on the needs of each particular case.

In principle and in accordance with known techniques, the frame of the present invention is constituted by two supporting laminar structures or sheets, which are parallelly and vertically positioned by appropriate means. However, the sheets are formed in such a way so as to have a series of stamped openings, each of which is purposely shaped to detachably receive and retain a narrow flange which constitutes a supportiong surface for the filing drawers.

An object of the invention is, therefore, to substitute the conventional type racks or shelves for stamped openings wherein detachable narrow flanges, capable of acting as supporting surfaces for filing drawers or cabinets, can be housed by applying pressure.

A further object of the invention resides in the formation of the mentioned supporting stamped openings in accordance with a simple and economic process, wherein there are no other accessory elements apart from the prior supporting laminar structures or sheets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages will be evident throughout the description which follows with the help of the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation schematic view of a frame for supporting the classification and filing drawers in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view of one of the supporting sheets of the frame, modified according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the outer face of one of the modified sheets of the frame.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inner face of one of the sheets constituting the frame. This view shows the way in which the detachable racks or shelves supported by the sheets of the frame of support of the drawers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to FIG. 1, and in accordance with the previous discussion, it can be seen that a frame for supporting filing drawers in accordance with the present invention is constituted by two sheets or the like 5 and 5a which are vertically and parallelly held in position with the aid of a top portion 6 and a bottom portion 6a and which have U-shaped ribs 8 presenting a series of opposite facing, equidistant and parallel grooves.

Narrow flanges 9, which act as supporting points for the longitudinal edges'of the bottoms of the drawers to be stored in the frame on fixture, are housed in grooves of ribs 8 which, as can be seen, have their openings facing inwardly. In FIG. 1 and marked with reference numbers ll, 12 and 13, three drawers of different heights have been represented in dotted lines, anyone of which is perfectly adjustable by means of the adequate arrangement of the supporting narrow flanges 9.

Ribs 8 have a substantially U-shaped form, and pres.- ent grooves having a depth which corresponds to half the width of the narrow flanges 9 and a length and separation between the two arms of the U which respectively correspond to the length and thickness of the narrow flange 9. In this way the ribs are solid and secure foundations so that the narrow flanges cannot swing or slip from the grooves under weight or handling of the drawers.

The ribs 8 are formed by means of moulds, with prior or simultaneous folding, of determined zones of the sheets themselves which form the frame. In this way, at the same time as establishing suspension points for the detachable narrow flanges which serve as a support for the drawers, the sheets are mechanically reinforced, conditioning them to support greater forces.

As shown, the ribs extend outwardly of the assembled frame, no portion of the ribs extending inwardly of the planes of the inner opposed surfaces of the sheets. More specifically, the formation of the ribs is carried out by effecting on the supporting sheets 5 a series of groups of three interconnected slots, organized as three adjacent sides of a rectangle, giving rise to the formation of various flaps which, folded on each other by stamped openings give rise to a series of windows 7 and a plurality of grooved ribs 8 which are those employed for the receipt of the detachable narrow flanges.

FIGS. 3 and 4 emphasize the detachable nature of the mentioned narrow flanges by representing some of them, with reference number 9b, in position of assembly.

There is also represented in FIG. 4, supported on a narrow flange which is mounted in the groove of one of the ribs 8, a drawer 10. The other end of drawer 10 is supported on another narrow flange placed at the same height and situated in the corresponding groove of the opposite sheet of the frame. Both narrow flanges used for this example as a support for drawer have been allotted reference number 9a.

Having sufficiently explained the nature of the present invention, what is claimed is the following:

We claim: 1. A frame for supporting classification and filing drawers, said frame comprising:

two vertically and parallelly spaced supporting structures or sheets presenting opposed vertical inner surfaces; each of said sheets having a plurality of equally spaced horizontal ribs extending in their entirety outwardly from said inner surfaces; each of said ribs presenting a horizontal groove opening into one of said inner surfaces; each of said grooves being at the same height as a corresponding groove in the opposite of said sheets; and

a plurality of planar flange elements each of a thickness corresponding to the width of said grooves and a width greater than the depth of said grooves, each of said flange elements being selectively positionable in one of said grooves so that a portion of said flange elements extends horizontally inwardly of the corresponding of said inner surfaces to provide a support surface for a drawer, wherein each of said ribs has a U-shaped profile, each of said ribs being formed from a group of three interconnected slots forming three adjacent slots of a rectangle defining a rectangular flap joined to said sheet at the remaining side of the rectangle and being overlapped upon itself, thus forming said U-shaped rib with its respective groove opening into said inner surface. 

1. A frame for supporting classification and filing drawers, said frame comprising: two vertically and parallelly spaced supporting structures or sheets presenting opposed vertical inner surfaces; each of said sheets having a plurality of equally spaced horizontal ribs extending in their entirety outwardly from said inner surfaces; each of said ribs presenting a horizontal groove opening into one of said inner surfaces; each of said grooves being at the same height as a corresponding groove in the opposite of said sheets; and a plurality of planar flange elements each of a thickness corresponding to the width of said grooves and a width greater than the depth of said grooves, each of said flange elements being selectively positionable in one of said grooves so that a portion of said flange elements extends horizontally inwardly of the corresponding of said inner surfaces to provide a support surface for a drawer, wherein each of said ribs has a U-shaped profile, each of said ribs being formed from a group of three interconnected slots forming three adjacent slots of a rectangle defining a rectangular flap joined to said sheet at the remaining side of the rectangle and being overlapped upon itself, thus forming said U-shaped rib with its respective groove opening into said inner surface. 